CDP Background Paper series

Nepal was the first Least Developed Country to negotiate its accession to the World Trade Organization. The negotiation process was demanding, yet it succeeded in securing a relatively well-balanced accession package. The purpose of this paper is to describe the contours of the negotiation process and to share lessons learned. The paper details the onerous process involved in the accession of LDCs to the WTO and describes the context of Nepal's negotiating positions. Some distinctive aspects of Nepal's approach to the process of accession are highlighted and compared with the situation of some other LDCs.

The least developed country category was established by the international community for countries requiring special support measures for dealing with their structural impediments to growth. Despite the availability of these measures and the efforts of the LDCs themselves, relatively little progress has been achieved. This paper reviews some of the main international support measures from the perspective of five LDCs. It highlights country approaches to the support received and the challenges confronted in accessing the measures. For an effective use of the special support, the report stresses stronger country ownership and improved donor support.

CDP Background Paper No. 21 By José Antonio Alonso, Ana Luiza Cortez and Stephan Klasen The proliferation of country groupings indicates the need to assess the effectiveness of the current system for development cooperation and to explore better ways t ...

CDP Background Paper No. 20 By Hiroshi Kawamura This paper examines the prospects of achieving a main goal of the Istanbul Programme of Action—at least half of the LDCs to meet the graduation criteria by 2020. Based on two different sets of graduation ...

CDP Background Paper No. 19 by Ana Luiza Cortez and Mehmet Arda Multilateral trade rules have maintained stable and predictable trade flows. Developing countries increased their participation in world markets but marked asymmetries persist; not all cou ...

CDP Background Paper No. 18 By Mustafizur Rahman Global evidence suggests that trade-related performance is becoming increasingly important for the socio-economic development of many developing countries. The paper finds that trade preferences accorded ...

CDP Background Paper No. 17 By Matthias Bruckner International support to the sustainable development of SIDS has been on the international policy agenda for a long time, whereas challenges are intensifying. Stabilizing global economic and financial ma ...

CDP Background Paper No. 16 By Keun Lee and John Mathews The paper argues that science, technology and innovation (STI) play a critical role in expediting transition to a sustainable mode of development. Latecomer nations suffer from several disadvanta ...

CDP Background Paper No. 15 By Matthias Bruckner This paper reviews the role of climate change vulnerability in identifying least developed countries (LDCs). Taking a sustainable development perspective, it argues that climate change should be seen as ...